Wire shelving and basket having snap-in surface forming members



George Krikorian United States Patent [72] inventor [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,874,790 8/1932 Mortenson 64 Main 81., Spencer, Massachulem 01562 766,233

[21] Appl. No. [22] Filed n a n & r. K 8 6 9 l l 2 o I 7 6 3 1,932,275 /1933 Kublanow..

r B 8 5 9 l l l 8 0 o 6 m. 2

0111.9,1968 Patented Dec. 8, 1970 m n B S m mw m ma mm .mo n" PA [51] Int.

365d 7/20 ABSTRACT: Wire shelving and baskets including a series of 211/153, paralleled spaced wires with elongated members having 135; 220/19, 84; 52/477, 644-646 Field Search...

106,121, beveled edges snapping in between selected pairs of wires,

forming solid surfaces.

FIG. 2;

WIRE SHELVING AND BASKET HAVING SNAP-IN SURFACE FORMING MEMBERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Solid shelving such as wood, metal, plastic, and the like have advantages, particularly for decoration and similar pur poses, over wire shelving and baskets which however have the advantage of good visibility and circulation of air for certain products. It is an objectof this invention to provide a structure which has both advantages and can be used for shelving extremely small articles and even dirt, or merely as a wire shelf member. It is the purpose, of this'invention to provide a wire shelving which can be used as it is, or to receive certain new and improved snap-in devices making solid surfaces therefor so that the advantages of b oth types of shelving can be utilized.

SUMMARYOF-TI-IE INVENTION In wire shelving and baskets the supporting surfaces and if present, the front and rear fences, are formed with longitudinal wires with cross wires underneath the same. These loncentral longitudinal wire 20 as well as an end wire 22. Thus it will be seen that the shelving or baskets shown in FIG. I is provided with arear fence and a lower forward fence but all of the longitudinal wires 10, 20, 22, 16, etc. are spaced apart equal gitudinal wires are parallel and receive in a snap-in relation,

elongated, surface forming elements of metal, plastic, wood, cardboard, paperboard, etc., which have beveled edges. In other words, the edges are provided in a solid piece such as with cardboard and wood, etc. or by downturned flanges of sheet metal, plastic, and.- the. like, are farther apart than the longitudinal wires, so that by slightly springing the wires or by springing these surface forming elements, at the edges thereof, thewider portions are snapped in under the wires, and lie under the horizontal diameters thereof, being thereby tightly held in position against any kind of accidental displacement. They then form solid surfaces'which even retain dirt, etc., so that the resultant support may even be used as a flower or windowbox or the like.

By separating the longitudinal wires a certain predeter-- mined distance in increments as forinstance 2% or 3 inches, and assuming the r'nanufacture of a single shelf or basket which has a bottom feet Iongand 14m 18 inches wide for example, any size of shelving or basket can be provided the customer simply by cutting ofi excess outside wires in the increments referred to above. It is less expensive to perform this operation even with resulting waste, than it is to warehouse all the different sizes that might be wanted.

BRIEF DESCRIFTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view showing a plain wire shelf having a forward fence of relative short height and a rear fence of a greater height; I r

FIG. 2 is a similar view illustrating the surface forming members applied to the shelving of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section through the construction of FIG. 4 is an end view illustrating a solid surface forming member of wood, cardboard or the like; and

' FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of a modified surface forming element.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION This invention is applicable to wire shelving and baskets whether having partitions or end members or the like. FIG. 1 illustrates a basket form of device in which the partitions and the ends have been omitted and it comprises a series of Iongitudinal wires .10 forming the bottom. These are evenly spaced in increments. There are also cross wires 12 which underlie wires and are welded'thereto. In the illustration the wires 12 extend around the forwardmost wire 10 and upwardly at 14 and these are connected by another longitudinal wire 16 parallel to those at 10. The wire 16 is spaced from its closest wire 14 the same'spacing as the wires 10. This structure is repeated but on a higher scale at the rear of the basket, the'upright- 18 being longer than those at 14 and there being a responding wire 34.

amounts.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there are here shown the surface forming elements which are generally indicated by the reference character 24. Each of these elements is elongated as shown in FIG. 2 and has edge flanges 26 which are turned down in inclined relation to the top web or surface thereof which is indicated at 28. The wires 10 being spaced apart uniformly, the members 24 are provided in widths in which the edges of the inclined portions of side flanges 26 are spaced apart a distance greater than the distances between the wires 10. Therefore the surface forming members can be snapped under the outstanding diameters of the wires 10, and they are very rigidly held in this position by the wires.

The same is true as to the front and the rear fences, the same members 24'being snapped inbetween the forwardmost wire 10, see FIG. I, and wire 16, to form a solid front. The same is done between the rearwardmost wire 10 and wire 20, and between wire 20 and wire 22 to form a solid rear fence.

If the surface forming elements are made of wood, hardboard, etc., they will be made solid as shown in-FIG. 4, but the action is the same and by the combination of slightly springing the elements as shown at 30 and the wires 10, they may be snapped in position.

Supposing therefore that a certain maximum size of e.g. flat shelving is made in quantity, for instance 5 or 6 feet long and 14 to 18 inches wide, these may be stored in any quantities desired and cut down to a customers orders so as to avoid the necessity of stocking manydifferent sizes, and this is less expensive than to make and stock many sizes.

In FIG. 5, surface forming member 32 is generally like that at 28 having a side flange 38 like that at 26, and an opposite side flange 36 that is extended to curve partly about its cor- Iclaim: g I

l. A supporting structure comprising a series of parallel elongated spaced supporting membersdefming recesses along' opposed sides thereof, spaced members underneath the supporting members lying transversely thereof, a surface forming element also elongated andhaving a width which is generally similar to the spacing of said aforementioned supporting members, resiliently distortable-means having a relative spacing slightly greater than the distance between the adjacent edges of said aforementioned" supporting members, said surface forming element being positioned between a pair of said aforementioned supporting members with said resiliently distortable means being snapped Into said recesses, and held thereby, said surface forming element including said resiliently distortable means lying entirely between an adjacent pair of said supporting members, said surface forming element being generally flat and the resiliently distortable means comprising flanges, said flanges being bent down from the general plane of said surface forming element and lying at an incline with respect thereto. I

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said supporting structure includes a fence at an edge thereof, said fence including a longitudinal supporting member parallel to and spaced from the other supporting members, a surface forming element being snapped into the space between longitudinal supporting members, one of which is on the fence, said fence being angularly related to the first-named surface forming element.

3. The structure of claim I wherein said supporting structure includes fences at the edges thereof, said fences each including a longitudinal supporting member parallel to and spaced from the other supporting members, surface forming elements being snapped into the spaces between longitudinal supporting members, one of which is on each fence, said fences being angularly related to the first-named surface forming element. 

